‘Superior Donuts’: Judd Hirsch To Star In New Pilot For CBS Comedy In Recasting

Veteran actor Judd Hirsch has been tapped as the co-lead opposite Jermaine Fowler in CBS’ multi-camera comedy pilot Superior Donuts. After the end of this past pilot season, where Superior Donuts was in serious consideration for a series pickup with the network very high on Fowler, CBS ordered a new pilot for the project, recasting one of the two leads.

Written and executive produced by Neil Goldman & Garrett Donovan and Bob Daily based on the play by Tracy Letts, Superior Donuts follows the relationship between the owner of a donut shop, Arthur (Hirsch), his new young employee (Fowler) and their patrons in a gentrifying neighborhood of Chicago. In the original pilot, the role was played by Brian d’Arcy James.

In addition to Fowler and Hirsch, the cast of Superior Donuts also includes Maz Jobrani, David Koechner and Rell Battle who was promoted from a guest star in the original pilot.

This marks Hirsch’s return to CBS where he co-starred on the long-running crime drama Numbers. It also marks Hirsch’s full-time return to the multi-camera sitcom format where he is best known for his role on another workplace sitcom, Taxi, that earned him two Emmy Awards. Hirsch also currently plays Leonard’s (Johnny Galecki) father as a guest star on CBS’ flagship comedy series The Big Bang Theory.